The Power Of Oppression

Oppression has long shaped human society. Whether it be Egyptian slaves hundreds of years ago, or Latino people today, we have never, and will never, become free of oppression. Given our contingent history, I agree with the statement that there is no hierarchy of oppression. Audre Lorde discusses in her narrative, as she mentions how society has long befallen itself with structured oppression. She discusses how the LGBT and Black communities are connected because they have overlapping members. She further argues that all oppression stems from the same roots. This concept is further exemplified by “First They Came For The Socialists”, in which Martin Niemöller mentions how the Nazisinitially targeted one group of people, but began grouping many

A story is most powerful when it inspires the reader to believe that reading the story is “necessary”. In our textbook, there are three stories that hold true to this idea and follow the “Between Worlds” theme. These stories are, “A Cab Drivers Daughter” by Waheeda Samady, “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression” by Martin Luther King Jr., and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. In “A Cab Drivers Daughter” a Pediatrician examines her life and the life of her father; she notes all the stereotypes and negativity that surrounds an immigrant driving a cab. This story shines light on the generation gap and cultural beliefs. Secondly, “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression” is the explanation behind the ideology of the

First, I will start this paper with the definition of oppression given by Webster Dictionary and also by the social work dictionary. Then, we have that Webster Dictionary defines oppression such as "Unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power especially by the imposition of burdens; the condition of being weighed down; an act of pressing

There are some who may argue that oppression is a concept of the past and that it does not exist in our modern society; however, oppression it not always an overt power one person or group exerts over another. It can come in more subtle forms, many of which that have become such normative aspects of our society that some oppressors and oppressed individuals alike may not immediately recognize its impact. In

Andrea Ayvazian, author if “Interrupting the Cycle of Oppression: The Role of Allies as Agents of Change” defines ally with much detail. Ayvazian says an ally is “a member of a dominant group in our society who works to dismantle any form of oppression from which she or he receives the benefit” (Ayvazian, p. 629). Additionally, she uses the term oppression to describe the prejudice who have access to social, political, and economic power (Ayvazian, p. 629). Allied behavior is defined as taking responsibility from the changes we know are needed to make society better and the ones we tend to ignore (Ayvazian, p. 629). Also, allied behavior is intentional, overt, makes privileges that are so often invisible visible, and facilitates the empowerment of the people targeted by oppression (Ayvazian, p. 629). Moreover, allied behavior is consistent activity that challenges prevailing patterns of oppression (Ayvazian, p. 629).

After I read the article, I had to sit back and digest the material for an entire day. The article force me to do some soul searching regarding my position on power, privilege, and oppression. Have I been so oblivious to my surroundings? I quickly thought about the six core values of social work: service, social justice, dignity and worth, importance of human relationships, integrity, & competence. Will I be able to help others; because like Spencer (2008) I took somethings in life for granted? It was ironic when I was reading the article that Martin Luther King Jr, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandella came to mine. They all fought for the injustice and sacrificed much to change the minds of the one in the position of power.

Oppression has change in history in the following ways: lower class people are treated different than higher class, people are discriminated by their race, and minorities knows how each class behave. People should not be obligated to change their lifestyle only because they are oppressing them to change for good. Each one of us should have freedom of what they want to do and enjoy life by not being forced to or feeling less than others

Oppression is when groups of people are pushed down by societies or those in power. The word comes from the Latin root opprimere, meaning "pressed down”. There are several ways people tend to be oppressed in terms of race, gender, class, sexual preferences, disability and age and so on. A person can deal with numerous forms of oppression, it is an unjust use of power to enforce an unequal relationship and deny another’s rights and values. The oppressor disempowers a person or group, often in order to further empower and/or privilege themselves. Oppression prevents people from freedom and opportunities. Different forms of oppression For example, systematic oppression is wide spread in American society which is towards the black community. It has got a bit better since the late 1960’s however it is still going on. Over a quarter of the black community are in demand of basic needs with poverty rates being the highest out of any race in the country. The black community unfortunately dominates the low income markets which then generates low income

Language is common in the world it is the way humans communicate and relate to things with one another.Language is a powerful tool in the world because it can give power to people and can be used to manipulate through renaming people,stereotyping a person and using a euphemistic approach in addressing a person.

When working to determine the causes of oppression, one must first establish a definition of the word. Oppression can be perceived as being a broad, which can lead to disempowerment of the term. For the purposes of this paper, oppression is defined through the lens of both institutional and internalized oppression. Institutional oppression is define as the occurrence of established laws, customs, and practices systematically reflecting and producing inequities based on one’s membership in targeted social identity groups (Cheney, 2012). In regards to institutional oppression, oppressive consequences such as classism, prejudice and discrimination are typically attributed to institutional laws, customs, or practices. Internalized oppression is internalized oppression is the

A Social Worker’s reflection on Power, Privilege and Oppression, this is the title of Michael Spence’s article, but what really does that mean? Spence talks about his personal experiences in life that dealt with all three of these aspects, power, privilege and oppression. In this paper this writer will also talk about power, privilege and oppression in regard to Spence’s outlook on the topic. What is power? How does it relate to Social Workers and social situations? Is privilege really something that can be given to you just based on race and where you grew up, or how you were raised? Lastly Oppression, what causes one type of social group to be oppressed?

It’s important to acknowledge the historical context when understanding oppression because oppression always has its roots somewhere; no one is oppressed just because. Marginalization of minority groups in the past, and even today, has a purpose—not necessarily a good purpose, though. The purpose was usually for power; majority groups wanted to be the standard for good, resulting in the dehumanization of minority groups. Therefore, to understand fully why the oppression still stands today, it’s important to look back on how it started. That way, we can see why it still persists in our society; is its original purpose still being pursued but in a less physical way like in the past? And, is it still affecting the same people today, even to a

“Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris M. Young tries to create an idea that we can critique the reality and stages of oppression of different groups. She argues that oppression is structural in the sense that injustices arise from systematic everyday activities, and not from policies or how people act. Since oppression is systematically reproduced and thus ingrained into culture, politics and economics, therefore it cannot be simply removed from our society. She separates the condition of oppression into five different forms: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Young states that exploitation is where oppression occurs in the transfer of one social group’s products of labor to benefit the wealthier class. She also argues that women are also exploited to through this from of

I am stating the Five Faces of Oppression based on my understand after reading Shaw & Lee. The first face is Exploitation. Exploitation is, “A process that transfer the results of labor of one social group to benefit another.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of exploitation is sweat shops. Children in many parts of the world are making clothing items such as Nike for pennies a day. While these children are underpaid people who aren’t sweat shop workers’ pay multiple dollars for the items made. Marginalization is the next face, Margination is described as, “The expulsion of an entire group from useful participation in social life.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) A group that fits this category are the homeless. Homeless people were unable to pay their bills therefore, they’re without a home. Powerlessness comes next and is described as, “lack of respectability.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this would be minority groups. In the media you see many videos of white people disrespecting minorities for being “different.” Cultural Imperialism is the fourth face. Cultural Imperialism is, “Recognizing the dominant group experience and culture as the norm.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this is white culture in America. In America it’s the norm for mothers to be stay at home moms while the husband is the sole bread winner for the family. The last face of oppression is violence. Violence is described as, “Members of a subordinate group who live with the threat of violence.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) Transgender individuals live with a lot of fear and violence. Many people don’t understand or support the trans community and tend to thing in order to solve the “problem” they must hurt and kill trans individuals. Iris Young said described the acts as “Using people’s labors to produce profit while not compensating them fairly.”

Oppression by definition is an act of cruelty, it cannot longer pass as ignorance or mistake, and it dehumanizes an individual by abusing an unjust power to begin with. For example, in some cultures women are said to be the property of their fathers/husbands and they must obey the men in regards to marriage or even trivial decisions such as clothing. This is an example of women being oppressed, but this extends to every group and stops at nothing – the impaired, the religious, the poor, the elderly, the young, the immigrants and so forth and so on (Thompson, 2012).